保护人民免受自己宗教社区的侵害：教会与国家中的无名氏

摘要：在某些情况下，个体由于担心公开身份会导致其自身或其家人在所属宗教团体中遭受污名，可能希望在诉讼或申请枪支执照等应当公开的程序中寻求保密。对此，法律是否应当允许他们匿名进行，以更好地保护他们的利益并避免阻碍其诉讼或申请的进行？还是这种匿名措施会对宗教团体产生不适当的偏见，导致其面临不公正的审查或评判，甚至干扰宗教团体成员评估同教派成员利用法院及其他政府程序能力的透明性和公正性？

Abstract: Suppose that people seek confidentiality in what would otherwise be a public process—such as litigating or applying for a firearms license—because they are afraid that publicly identifying them will stigmatize them in their (or their families’) religious communities. Should the law allow them to proceed anonymously to better protect their interests and to avoid discouraging their lawsuits or applications? Or would that unduly stigmatize the religious community by branding it as improperly censorious or judgmental—or interfere with religious community members’ ability to evaluate for themselves how their coreligionists are using the courts and other government processes?